Readjuster Party

The Readjuster Party was a populist political party in Virginia which brought together both former slaves and poor whites to win control of the state legislature and break the power and wealth of the planter elite of white men in the state. They won the governorship in 1881, invested in public schools, refinanced the state's debts, appointed African-American teachers, established Virginia State University as a black school, abolished the poll tax, integrated the Danville police force and town council, and abolished public whipping posts. In 1885, however, voters rejected the Readjusters for a Democratic Party that initiated a century of racial discrimination. The party disappeared in 1895, and the Republican Party ceased to be competitive in the state; in 1901, the Democrats implemented Jim Crow laws in the state.